Of course, the president need not be an authority on the endless matters he must adjudicate daily―that’s what his advisers are there for. Indeed, great presidents surround themselves with people who can give them expert advice on an array of topics so that they can make well-informed decisions. And no president, including Trump, should be criticized for asking questions when he doesn’t know the answers.

The only caveat is that the president has to know that if he has a question about, say, the military, he should pick Secretary of Defense James Mattis’s brain rather than that of fast-food kingpin and Labor hopeful Andrew Puzder. And if he is confused about the economy, his first, second, third, and fourth calls should be to the bevy of business people who’ve formed a panel to advise him or, as a last resort, Steven Mnuchin, his nominee for Treasury secretary. Unfortunately, when matters of state keep Trump awake at night, he appears confused about whom to ask for advice. The Huffington Post reports:

President Donald Trump was confused about the dollar: Was it a strong one that’s good for the economy? Or a weak one? So he made a call―except not to any of the business leaders Trump brought into his administration, or even to an old friend from his days in real estate. Instead, he called his national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, according to two sources familiar with Flynn’s accounts of the incident.

Flynn has a long record in counterintelligence but not in macroeconomics. And he told Trump he didn’t know, that it wasn’t his area of expertise, that, perhaps, Trump should ask an economist instead.

Trump was not thrilled with that response―but that may have been a function of the time of day. Trump had placed the call at at 3 A.M., according to one of Flynn’s re-tellings― although neither the White House nor Flynn’s office responded to requests for confirmation about that detail.

To recap: Trump, the president, reportedly didn’t understand what it means to have a strong or weak dollar; he called a person who is not an expert in the matter at 3 A.M. to get some answers, even though we know he gets cranky and lashes out at allies when he hasn’t gotten adequate sleep; and he bristled at the suggestion that he seek the advice of someone better informed on the topic.

Stay tuned for next week, when Trump demands H.U.D. chief Ben Carson tell him the best place to test some nuclear missiles.